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Tuesday, 22 December 2015

“You will treat this vehicle as if it were your wife. As if it were your sister or your mother. It is precious to me and therefore it is most precious to you. Do not misunderstand what I now say. My life and that of my crew depends upon our 'Ajax' being faithful to us when we need him to be. If this tank does not perform when needed then we may die. If we die and it is a death of honour and of glory then that is all a knight can hope for. But. If it is a death due to failed drive coil or reactor housing fracture then you had better hope that it is death for all of us within. For if even one of us lives and returns here you will die. It will not be a noble death or a quick one. Ajax's replacement will drive over you as slowly as is possible until you are no longer a man but a ruddy hue of scarlet across the rubbacrete of this yard. So treat this vehicle as if it were your most treasured. I will return in the morning. There are enemies of the rightful throne to kill!”

It is now the end of 2015 and what a year it has been for my little Ion Age. Doubled in size for the third year and now standing tall alongside its much bigger brothers Alternative Armies and 15mm.co.uk. We have done many things this year including new miniatures, new vehicles, new game pack and book and much more. We also had the build up to and release of the mighty Taranis Main Battle Tank which has really hit a chord with wargamers all over the world. All of us here send you our best wishes for the Festive Season and for the New Year and we have two treats remaining for you all before then. This is the first of them...

Back in early November we upgraded and expanded the Rewards Programme that we offer. As you know every order gets a free special monthly changed miniature (currently IMP28 Missiletoe Claus) worth 0.60GBP and all customers have an account once they place an order. Your account gathers Reward Points and these can be saved up and spent on discounts of up to 20% and more such as free products. Read the linked up article for full details as we are focusing here on RWP02 Commander Murdo's Taranis Tank. This vehicle is a customised tracked Taranis Tank which you can have for FREE by redeeming 2000 Points or simply by purchasing at 20.00GBP. You can see RWP02 on our website HERE.

This unique variant of Tracked Taranis Main Battle Tank is based on IAF100B. It is the character tank belonging to Commander Murdo a hero of the League of Canlaster and brother of the heroic Baron Aldo Murdo who can be found in code IAF013. This pack contains one resin heavy vehicle with white metal components. This is a character vehicle which saw action fighting for the League of Canlaster on New Bosworth one of the biggest campaigns of the Prydian Civil War. It is a modified command vehicle with extra stowage and twin Ron hi-ex cannons as well as a rotary Moth 88 and additional armour against infantry AP weapons and comm suite. Assembled this model is 95mm long and 70mm wide (30mm tall). It is a very large and impressive main battle tank of the far future. The kit comprises a unique upper hull with added detail, a unique turret with twin hi-ex cannons, a standard lower hull, a standard left tracked sponson, a standard right tracked sponson and a secondary weapon to mount on the turret. Only six pieces to assemble with ease!

We present these lovely painted and action photos of Murdo's Tank to you for your enjoyment. Its amazing how different Taranis looks painted in the blue shades of the League of Canlaster. You can see just how large this main battle tank is when you see a Retained Knight from IAF002 which is 18mm tall standing next to it. Taranis rules the battlefield. All of the Taranis family of tanks can be seen on our website HERE.

Information Burst!

This month our free miniature is IMP28 Missiletoe Claus. For the whole of December 2015 this festive 15mm scale lady is automatically put into every order at the rate of one per order regardless of order value. It can also be bought in any amount on the monthly IMP page of the website for this month only too before being withdrawn on the first of next month. With a Christmas hat on her head and wearing Alwite powered armour Missiletoe is armed with a Tumbler Mpi. A great character for your Retained or other forces. The miniature is one piece in white metal and stands approx 16mm tall. Of course you earn reward points on all orders too through your account learn more about that HERE. We realise that some of you may wish to purchase the currently free miniature to get multiples of it without placing a lot of orders so you can do just that. Visit this page on the website for the miniature at a fair price for a special miniature. There is a growing page on the Ion Age website where the current and all former IMP series free miniatures are shown so that you can see what came before. Enjoy and go HERE.

Monday, 7 December 2015

“Allow me to create a society around the Prydian Precinct. One that exists with the threat of the Prydian Civil War within and the Shia Khan Empire without. The people, the law, the machines and the creatures that populate the planets, the star ports, outposts and even the seedy bars where Retained Knights would fear to tread.”

This is Our Last Release for 2015!

Last month we began a brand new range within The Ion Age sculpted by Dave Foley called the 15mm Ion Age Universe Characters. If you missed this then refer to this article on our blog HERE. We will be adding a new pack every month and it is my own and Mr Foley's intention to create a 15mm scale figure range that will allow you to get the 'people' of your wargaming on your table regardless of your setting. Last month we had Precinct Adventurers and Precinct Police and now we present five more original miniatures: IAF106 Precinct Dignitaries! Go HERE or read on.

IAF106 Precinct Dignitaries

The third pack of 15mm characters in the Ion Age Universe range. Moving around the worlds of the Prydian Precinct are those who wish to conduct government work, to support those who need their views represented and to meet with each other to discuss high matters. These Dignitaries are excellent civilian important persons for your collection. Sculpted by Dave Foley this pack contains five different 15mm scale white metal miniatures in the following poses. Female in robes carrying object, Female in robes gesturing, Man in tunic with staff and orb, Female in robes hands clasped and finally Male in tunic holding object. Objects are for you to decide! These miniatures are great for any science fiction or suitable genre of wargaming in 15mm scale when you want something other than warfare or soldiers on your table. As always this code can be bought as a pack or as single miniatures or select the three packs and save 10% options from the drop down menu on the page. Go HERE. Price 2.50GBP per pack.

There are the details of the previous packs.

IAF104 Precinct Adventurers

The first pack of 15mm characters in the Ion Age Universe range at The Ion Age. Precinct Adventurers are the kind of fellows you need in a scrap or to carry out some dangerous work in a place where the law is a little loose. Sculpted by Dave Foley this pack contains five different 15mm scale white metal miniatures in the following poses. Male adventurer kneeling with a data slab and connected viewer, a hansom male adventurer advancing aiming a Minstrel Taser pistol, male adventurer in long coat signalling a halt holding a Tumbler SMG, male adventurer wearing parts of Aketon armour and at guard pose with a Moth Rifle. Lastly a male adventurer in out moded Alwite armour bandaged head and Minstrel Taser. These miniatures are great for any science fiction or suitable genre of wargaming in 15mm scale when you want something other than warfare or soldiers on your table. As always this code can be bought as a pack or as single miniatures or select the three packs and save 10% options from the drop down menu on the page. Go HERE. Price 2.50GBP per pack.

IAF105 Precinct Police

The second pack of 15mm characters in the Ion Age Universe range. Precinct Police are the local law enforcement on the worlds and colonies of the civilised Prydian Precinct who try to maintain order without the use of deadly force if possible. A first line of law and order. Sculpted by Dave Foley this pack contains five different 15mm scale white metal miniatures in the following poses. All are wearing light armour plates, a helmet and a wet weather cape. Male officer holding a control box for directing city services or droids, carrying portable signs and signal equipment, male officer with public address horn, officer with stun baton raised to strike and lastly running with stun baton. These miniatures are great for any science fiction or suitable genre of wargaming in 15mm scale when you want something other than warfare or soldiers on your table. As always this code can be bought as a pack or as single miniatures or select the three packs and save 10% options from the drop down menu on the page. Go HERE. Price 2.50GBP per pack.

Information Burst!

Our last release of 2015 belongs to Dave Foley and what a year it has been! We have a few more information posts for this month and we hope you enjoy the new Taranis Repulsar Tanks in their Early Supporter Offers which are currently under way for a few more days. See these HERE.

This month our free miniature is IMP28 Missiletoe Claus. For the whole of December 2015 this festive 15mm scale lady is automatically put into every order at the rate of one per order regardless of order value. It can also be bought in any amount on the monthly IMP page of the website for this month only too before being withdrawn on the first of next month. With a Christmas hat on her head and wearing Alwite powered armour Missiletoe is armed with a Tumbler Mpi. A great character for your Retained or other forces. The miniature is one piece in white metal and stands approx 16mm tall. Of course you earn reward points on all orders too through your account learn more about that HERE. We realise that some of you may wish to purchase the currently free miniature to get multiples of it without placing a lot of orders so you can do just that. Visit this page on the website for the miniature at a fair price for a special miniature. There is a growing page on the Ion Age website where the current and all former IMP series free miniatures are shown so that you can see what came before. Enjoy and go HERE.

Wednesday, 2 December 2015

The day is here! From now until Thursday 10th December 2015 we will have the IAF103 Taranis Repulsar Tanks (Five Variants) 15mm scale as Early Supporter Offers. Every order gets the monthly miniature (IMP28) free included and all orders containing one or more IAF103 codes are shipped from 11th December 2015 onwards worldwide! All of our releases and offers for the month are now online.

Three different levels of ESO to choose from. A single tank saving 5% off release price with a free pack of five IAF082 Taranis Repulsar Drones worth 5.00GBP. Three of the same tank saving 10% off each and each with a free pack of five drones (15 drones total). Lastly the battalion offer with five different tanks saving 15% off each and with five packs of five drones free! Click on each of the offers for full details and links to our blog articles with a lot more information and images of this mighty beast of a 15mm tank designed by industry legend Bob Naismith! Remember you can use your built up Reward Points for extra discount too. Go HERE.

Get 5% off the 20.00GBP release price of a single Taranis Repulsar Tank. Choose from the five different variants. You get a free pack of five repulsar drones with every tank. Retail Price: 25.00GBP Offer Price 19.00GBP.

Get 10% off the 60.00GBP release price of a three of the same Taranis Repulsar Tank. Choose from the five different variants. You get a three free packs of five repulsar drones with your three tanks. Retail Price: 75.00GBP Offer Price 54.00GBP.

Get 15% off the 100.00GBP release price of all five different Taranis Repulsar Tanks. You get five free packs of five repulsar drones with your tanks. Retail Price: 125.00GBP Offer Price 85.00GBP.

(Due to popular asking this third offer now has a second tier...15 Tanks, 75 Drones with a 25% saving off three bundles)

There are several articles on our blog that tell you and show you much more about IAF103 and IAF082 that we could possibly fit here or on our website. Click on the links that interest you and see every tank painted, in action, scale shots, unassembled kits and dimensions, concept art, fiction in The Ion Age and more!

To see all the posts click on this link which takes you to the Taranis 'tab' on the blog HERE.

Lastly we have at present FIFTEEN other Taranis Tanks on general release. These are five different tracked tanks, five different wheeled tanks and five different lifter (hover) tanks too. We also have Taranis Running Drones on general release too. You can add these to your order and remember if you go over 80.00GBP, after any discounts are applied, you will get free worldwide shipping plus of course your Reward Points and monthly miniature too. Go HERE.

As usual all orders get the monthly free miniature which is now IMP28 Missiletoe Claus as it is the festive month! You also get and can use your Reward Points on all orders.

Thank you for your time, for your custom, for your support and most of all for choosing The Ion Age.

Tuesday, 1 December 2015

“Its the ending month of the year once again and its time to give Santa Desteria and the Chrimbot a new festive themed companion. What could we add that goes with a two metre tall armoured suit and a killer robot? Perhaps his niece, an aide to help deliver the presents in a war zone in Prydian space. So for those who have been with us on our space opera journey and for those new to The Ion Age we present IMP28 Missiletoe Claus. She is a hot tempered sweetie that takes care of the naughty list. Continuing the tradition of odd and strange Christmas themed miniatures and our third festive free miniature. We do hope that wargamers love this miniature and its place twenty eight months in since our start. Merry Christmas everyone!”

December is the last month of the year and its been a big year for The Ion Age and while we will have an Early Supporter Offer beginning on the 2nd on our excellent Taranis Repulsar Tanks and we will be releasing a new pack into the 15mm Ion Age Universe Characters range too this month its the purpose of this news to tell you about the new free miniature in all orders. We have an upgraded Reward Points system and a new monthly offer only on our email campaigns too. I suggest that you join our Mailchimp email list (link on the top right) since our email lets you know what is going on and features a unique offer that is really worth it. This month its a rolling, flaming hot offer.

IMP28 Missiletoe Claus. For the whole of December 2015 this festive 15mm scale lady is automatically put into every order at the rate of one per order regardless of order value. It can also be bought in any amount on the monthly IMP page of the website for this month only too before being withdrawn on the first of next month. With a Christmas hat on her head and wearing Alwite powered armour Missiletoe is armed with a Tumbler Mpi. A great character for your Retained or other forces. The miniature is one piece in white metal and stands approx 16mm tall.

Of course you earn reward points on all orders too through your account. We realise that some of you may wish to purchase the currently free miniature to get multiples of it without placing a lot of orders so you can do just that. Visit this page on the website for the miniature at a fair price for a special miniature. There is a growing page on the Ion Age website where the current and all former IMP series free miniatures are shown so that you can see what came before. Enjoy and go HERE.

We look back at what was going out free this time last year and now also in our first year too. In December 2014 it was IMP16 Chrimbot and in December 2013 it was IMP04 Santa Desteria. You can get them in the Year Collections of formally free on our website HERE (go into Year One and Year Two to find these earlier miniatures) but if you click on the links over the codes you can see the blog post from that month and year and see what else we were up to at that time. Time flies and sometimes we forget and I always enjoy the new month update and to look back at last year and further...so much done and so much still to do!

Online Fans of the Ion Age

The Ion Age

Near a thousand years has passed since the galaxy brought itself to the brink of extinction in the Wars of the Khanate. Dragon ships burned a thousand worlds and humanity sank to its knees amid the ruins of its once glittering stellar commonwealth. At the battle for the Aldan star system the Ban of Prejudice was lifted and for once the liberated soldiers of the Free Companies stood shoulder to shoulder with the gene soldiers of the sterile Imperial Commonwealth; mankind once more united to stop an overwhelming alien threat. A billion men and woman died fighting and the matter gateway on Aldan IV newly built by the Khanate spewed forth legions from across the galactic plane at a rate that even the fanatical Templars of the Free Companies could not halt. It was then, according to the scorched records of the Starvaulters, that the Templars committed the greatest act of treachery even committed upon the body of humanity; creating the Dolorous Expanses. Whole star systems vanished and were replaced with impenetrable clouds of dust, covering dozens of light years each. An artefact of ancient design in the Aldan system, discovered by the Templars but kept secret, the Dolorous Expanses ended the wars at a stroke. Death and destruction beyond toll, changing the very face of the galaxy and all was still; the Free Companies cast out the Templars and the Imperium retreated into its shattered self. The Khanate...gone…for the time being.

Dark times followed and the fate of mankind looked grim, starvation gained hold and commerce fell to the wayside, as few starships could navigate the Dolorous Expanses and contact with the clouds meant instant obliteration. Inhabited worlds tortured their peoples in desperate acts of accelerated terra-forming; needing the land to feed themselves now that commerce was gone. The once zealot and fanatical Free Companies settled into an agrarian civilisation of fifty worlds bonded loosely by their ruling Barons, those of the Free Companies who had retained the armour and weapons of the mighty Crusader regiments.

On worlds such as New Glastonbury and its orbiting Tor these Barons consolidated their powers and on the whole were good to their people, they needed to be; too much had been lost already. Centuries passed and the region of space containing these green and pleasant worlds became known as the Prydian Precinct. Each stellar system looked to itself for sustenance and as technology returned the mighty starships refined their engines and learned how to use the titanic power of the Ion to generate intense magnetic fields and transport themselves instantly from one system to the next avoiding the deadly 'Dolo Clouds'. The need for a collective leadership became clear once more.

The core systems of Prydian space elected a council of Barons, who became the Aeddan's, to lead them and from among their number a titular head was chosen; a king to act on the behalf of all. To prevent the possible imperial ambitions of the past no standing army was allowed to be in the hands of the Aeddan Council or the King who resided on New Glastonbury. Each system would tend to its own needs to fend off pirates and mercenaries who did not respect the King's laws. Allotted to the Aeddan and the King were the million strong Starvaulters, an armed retinue to police the Prydian Precinct, but with no authority or desire to interfere with the Barons and their worlds; their impartiality was all that kept a vital respect for their judgements in matters the Barons could not agree upon.

For a time this arrangement worked and then war once more threatened the worlds of the Prydian Precinct, and war required troops. Millions of soldiers dressed once more in the augmented armour of their forefathers once more took to the field of battle on a hundred planets and countless orbiters and asteroids. It was in war that disaster fell, King Cyon III was killed, and he left his infant daughter in his place. A mere babe could not administer the needs of the Aeddan and their billions of charges, a guardianship was needed. The duty fell to Reckart Nevall a mighty Baron known as the 'Kingmaker' but his guardianship was not greeted by all with joy, over the fifteen years that followed two great camps grew within Prydian space and the Aeddan council split in twain.

A minor Baron whose world Kendal III was poor but populous brought the building tension to a head. Baron Kacj Dace rebelled against a judgement of the Starvaulters and called upon the Marcher Barons of the outer systems of Prydian space to assist him. This they did, seeing the Starvaulters as nothing more than Nevall's retinue to ensure his false control of the Aeddan Council. Naming themselves the League of Canlaster they elected Prince Edmund Bluefort as their rightful heir to the crown of Prydia and attacked Kendal III destroying the small force of Starvaulters on the planet. This single act ignited a civil war, a conflict the largest seen by the worlds of Prydian space for centuries. Nevall reacted with rage and called on the support of his own Marcher Barons to control the now teenage Princess Daphne Cyon and the throne she represented. He headed the League of Yordan named for his home world. The first battle of the Prydian Civil War was fought on Kendal III, many more soon followed. An elite strike force of Starvaulters stole Princess Cyon from Nevall's grasp and spirited her away to New Glastonbury where they now reside in force.

It is now the twelfth year of the Civil War and after suffering terrible setbacks and defeats the white and red uniformed troops of the Prydian Army have gained new vigour and are pushing the Leagues to their limit.Led by the veterans of the Starvaulters and driven by the Code Gallant the now adult Princess Daphne Cyon has promised to liberate each and every world in the Precinct and return it to the safe holding of the Addan Council.This she is doing to great effect and none in the Leagues seem able to prevent the cheering crowds and the flocking to the banners of the Addan.The Civil War might be nearing its end and for many this cannot come soon enough.

Rumours abound about the ever increasing numbers of Muster and Retained along with some of the shining lights of the Starvaulters being sent to the remote Carmarthen star cluster.Some have hinted that perhaps the Leagues are not the prime threat to Prydia and something else, something terrible lurks at the edge of Precinct space.An ancient enemy that all the preparation and new vitality of the Prydian Army may not be able to halt.

Do you want to liberate worlds held by the Marcher Barons or resist the advance of the Prydian Army? Or do you dream and fear of what is occurring in the remote Carmarthen star cluster?